I need to start this post off by telling you that I hurt the big toe on my left foot yesterday. I hit a jump in the woods at Jay Peak, which is something I never do, and I didn’t land it. When I fell, I felt my foot move around oddly and, at the time, my ankle hurt. By the time I got home, my ankle no longer hurt, but the big toe did. It was swollen and the toenail was blue in spots. Anyway, that had an impact on today. I knew it hurt this morning before I left, but I thought it was manageable. It wasn’t until my first run that I realized just how much it hurt.

Today I skied at Sugarbush’s Mount Ellen. If you’re not familiar with Sugarbush, this Vermont resort has two main base areas: Lincoln Peak and Mount Ellen. These two bases are really two separate ski areas that have been combined into one resort. Decades ago they were separate, but at some point Sugarbush bought the ski area, then known as Glen Ellen and that is now Mount Ellen. The two bases are several miles from each other, but they’re connected by a long, high-speed quad that rarely runs. You can also take a shuttle between the two bases. All this to say, most people tend to stick to one side of the resort for the day and today I chose Mount Ellen.

The view from just below the top terminal of the Summit Quad on Mount Ellen.

This was only my second time skiing Mount Ellen. Typically, I go straight to Lincoln Peak, which I love and know fairly well, but since I have an Ikon Base Pass with unlimited days at Sugarbush, I figured, why not go and check out Mount Ellen again? I have to say, I actually really like this part of Sugarbush. It’s not as big (in acreage) as Lincoln Peak, but the terrain is a lot of fun. It does, however, have 2,600 ft. of vertical, which is 200 ft. more than Lincoln Peak.

It was a busy day at Mount Ellen, and I heard it was also busy at Lincoln Peak. At Mount Ellen, Sugarbush was spinning three of their four main lifts that service upper mountain terrain: The Green Mount Express Quad, Inverness Quad and the Summit Quad. The North Ridge Express Quad was closed due to mechanical issues, which sound like they’ll be resolved soon based on reports.

Looking at the summit of Mount Ellen from Lower Rim Run.

That lift being down was unfortunate, because its end terminal is just below the summit, which means you can ride it (a high speed), instead of the slow Summit Quad. Speed isn’t everything, but in this case, it’s nice to have it open. It also means more people were crowding the high speed at the base, as well as the Summit Quad. Lines on these lifts generally weren’t too bad. I seemed to get on the lift within five to ten minutes. The Inverness Quad had no line. It was the place to be.

Because of my toe issues, I didn’t ski any trees today and, after my first run, which was down a bumped-up Tumbler, I decided I needed to primarily stick to groomers and non-bumped up trails. Coverage on everything was generally pretty good, but on the natural snow-only trails there were some thin spots lower down on the mountain. This week it was very windy and, as a result, groomed runs were a mix of icy spots and packed powder. Trails with natural snow only generally just had soft powder snow on them.

Despite my foot issues, it was great to visit Mount Ellen again. I will definitely be back. I know some of you reading this have always been curious about it, but you’ve never stopped to ski there and instead continued on to Lincoln Peak. I was just like you until last winter. Now I know how great Mount Ellen is.

- Lincoln

SKIING MOUNT ELLEN AT SUGARBUSH

SHREDDING GROOMERS AT WHITEFACE

SKIING POWDER AT JAY PEAK